Charles Dickens: His 10 most memorable characters - Smike from "Nicholas Nickleby" - CSMonitor.com Charles Dickens: His 10 most memorable characters Latest News By Marjorie Kehe, Monitor Books editor February 7, 2012 To celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, here is a tribute to 10 of his most unforgettable characters. 10. Smike from "Nicholas Nickleby" View Caption of Smike is one of a series of poorly treated innocents who haunt Dickens' fictive universe. Smike first appears in Dickens' third novel, "Nicholas Nickleby," as a cruelly abused and severely disabled child who is unlucky enough to have been left at a "school" run by the villainous Wackford Squeers. Smike is rescued by the novel's title character and becomes fiercely loyal to him. Only when Smike has died does Nicholas discover that Smike was his own cousin – the son of his scheming uncle, Ralph Nickleby.

The Top 10 Charles Dickens Books The Top 10 Charles Dickens Books By Robert Gottlieb | Nov 30, 2012 Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens is an outstanding biography of the writer with an eye toward his children, including the scandalous possible existence of an 11th child, born to Dickens's mistress. Robert Gottlieb, former Knopf editor, New Yorker editor, and lifelong Dickens reader, gives us the 10 best books from the master. For more on the book, check out our Q&A with Gottlieb . Charles Dickens left us fifteen novels, and in an ideal world everyone would read all of them. (Well, maybe not – Barnaby Rudge is a tired and tiresome historical novel that the young Dickens kept putting off writing until contractual obligations forced him to finish it.) His first published book was Sketches by Boz – a collection of short pieces that brought him considerable attention.

By the time he was finished with his second book – The Pickwick Papers, serialized between March, 1836 and October, 1837 – he was, at twenty-five, the best-known writer in England, and such he remained until his death, at fifty-eight, in 1870. The energy, the fun, the power, the compassion of his work is unmatched in English literature, with the obvious. How do you rate works of genius? Partly by personal inclination, partly by accepted wisdom, partly by popularity. Perhaps his most widely known works are A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities, and both are wonderful, but they don’t make my own top ten list. Instead: 1. Great Expectations - With its thrilling story that is also a profound look at the moral education of a boy who has been persecuted and deceived but whose essential goodness of heart eventually rescues him from snobbery and delusion. Everything is in harmony in this almost perfect novel: the character of Pip himself, and his interaction with the immense figures of the convict Magwitch, the embittered and half-mad Miss Havisham, and the beautiful, cold Estella.

This is Dickens’s most finely crafted book, and his most moving. 2. Our Mutual Friend - His final complete novel, with its vast panoply of characters, its emotional generosity, its violent drama, its rich humor – and its author’s most likeable (because imperfect) heroine, Bella Wilfer. I’ve actually read this book aloud twice, and still find it irresistible. 3. David Copperfield - Of course – the book closest to Dickens’s heart (it’s not by accident that the hero’s initials reverse Dickens’s own). The first-person narrative sweeps you along, and the characters -- from the wicked Murdstones and conniving Uriah Heep to the warm-hearted if feckless Micawbers, from Aunt Betsey Trotwood, Little Em’ly, and Steerforth, her seducer and betrayer, to the stout-hearted Peggoty and the silly lovable Dora, whom David marries – are indelibly printed on our literary consciousness. (Among its greatest admirers: Tolstoy, Kafka, and Virginal Woolf.) 4. Bleak House - With its vastly complicated plot and its immense cast of characters swirling around the case of Jarndyce vs.

Jarndyce that has been grinding away in the Court of Chancery for decades, Bleak House is for many readers Dickens’s greatest novel. An assault on the legal system, a satire on foolish philanthropy, a gripping melodrama, and an interesting use of point of view (told in both the third and first persons), it is a perpetual fascination. 5. Little Dorrit - In some ways Dickens’s most personal if not autobiographical novel, it has an autumnal quality, given its aging hero and quiet, staunch heroine. Its central characters not only prevail but mature, and its situations – even its comedy – resonate for its readers in countless affecting ways. 6. Oliver Twist - With its larger-than-life villainies and its endless excitements, is the perfect book to begin with. Who will ever forget the supremely wicked Fagin who co-opts homeless boys into a life of crime, the murderous Bill Sikes, the brave young Oliver himself, however idealized? No wonder it had such an immense triumph as successor to the benign and lovable Pickwick! 7.

Nicholas Nickleby - Perhaps the most high-spirited of all Dickens’s novels, yet also a grim, devastating attack on the Yorkshire schools to which unwanted children were dispatched. The comically radiant picaresque adventures of young Nicholas with the Crummles traveling theatrical troupe provide a wonderful contrast to the tragedy of the boy Smike, the saddest victim of the Squeers family who run the unspeakable school called Dotheboys Hall. 8. Dombey and Son - A powerful tragedy of a distant, cold businessman who comes to realize too late the value of his worthy daughter, Florence, after the death of his beloved son, Paul – Dickens’s most famous death scene after that of the famous Little Nell of The Old Curiosity Shop. 9. The Pickwick Papers - And, yes, Pickwick itself – not quite a novel (it started out as a series of sketches to be illustrated) but filled with glorious characters – the benign, naïve Pickwick himself, his cockney valet Sam Weller (who steals the book; the Sancho Panza to Pickwick’s Don Quixote), the rascally Jingle – and hilarious episodes like Pickwick’s trial for breach of promise.

The most decisive debut in English fiction. 10. The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens - Finally, not a work of fiction but the recently published The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens, edited by Jenny Hartley from the twelve volumes of the monumental Pilgrim Edition of Dickens’s correspondence. Here you find in Dickens the man, all the fun, acuity, sensitivity, and tough realism that characterize Dickens the supreme novelist. ADVERTISEMENT The Millions : Dickens's Best Novel? Six Experts Share Their Opinions - The Millions at 9:51 am on August 2, 2012 “Our mutual friend” is the greatest plot Dickens ever penned. Shawn Casey at 10:15 am on August 2, 2012 For its historical portrayal of a horrific period in time; for its depiction of anger, hatred, hypocrisy, and fear; for its richness of characterization and plot; for its proclamation of truth and inevitability of tragedy…was I wrong in bringing first to mind, my choice of “A Tale Of Two Cities” as Dickens’s best and most memorable novel?

I was surprised it was not mentioned… Rob at 11:09 am on August 2, 2012 What, no Nicholas Nickleby? Anthony Ashworth at 11:26 am on August 2, 2012 I’ve read Martin Chuzzlewit twice and enjoyed it immensely both times – I can’t see why it’s apparently one of the leasdt popular novels. The plot is excellent, it’s both hilarious and moving at times, and has one of THE great Dickensian characters in Mr. Pecksniff. Dickens’s Best Novel? « Read, Write, Be at 12:17 pm on August 2, 2012 […] was browsing through my Facebook home page and I foundÂ this linkÂ (provided by Charles Dickens’s fan page). Dickens’s best novel? I had to see what they […] Nicole at 12:17 pm on August 2, 2012 Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House are a tie in my mind.

Tale of Two Cities is “minor Dickens.” Melinda at 1:32 pm on August 2, 2012 A Tale of Two Cities may not have been his best, but it was my gateway drug and still my favorite. And contains some of the most memorable lines of all time. jack at 1:51 pm on August 2, 2012 Bleak House is the best because you admire it as you read; you think ‘wow, how clever,’ as the plot expands and then unravels arounds an incredible cast of characters. David Copperfield is the best because it’s impossible not to love David :-) mike at 5:10 pm on August 2, 2012 While my gateway was Great Expectation, I have to put in a vote for Pickwick Papers as the funniest novel I have ever read. Also a Nick Nickleby fan. Mark at 8:35 pm on August 2, 2012 I’ve read them all, except Our Mutual Friend, and I would rank them 1. Bleak House C.A.

Hall at 8:43 pm on August 2, 2012 Dickens had so many novels and stories that captured your soul. Oliver Twist, showing the struggles of youth and the poor, but able to overcome. Great Expectations, dealing humanity a different fight, joy, and conflict every day, even if imagined as with Miss Haversham. Probably my favorite overall, The Christmas Carol, that shows anyone watching or reading it that we all have a responsibility to mankind and probably a debt to pay to society. Gus at 2:45 pm on August 5, 2012 Seems like a good list, though I haven’t read Our Mutual Friend. Much as I love Nicholas Nickelby, Nicholas and Kate are almost nauseatingly virtuous. I have to assume that the commenter who called Tale of Two Cities “minor Dickens” is being tongue in cheek quoting a character in The Squid and the Whale. Not his greatest, but not “minor.” at 10:59 pm on August 6, 2012 […] Six literary scholars share their thoughts on Dickens’s best book.

[…] at 5:23 am on August 8, 2012 My choice also for Dickens’ best is Bleak House. My great favorite, though, is Dombey and Son. Alex at 10:33 am on August 8, 2012 Obviously the best character for a one-night stand is Estella from Great Expectations. at 12:43 pm on August 9, 2012 Still weeping over Jo. Marie-Anne Mancio at 10:03 am on August 10, 2012 None of them! Here’s why: his prostitute characters reflect his paternalistic attitude to women and you have to read between the lines of his letters about Urania Cottage to see glimpses of stories he could have told and didn’t. Book Links 8-10-12 « Loose Leaf Bound at 4:08 pm on August 10, 2012 […] The Millions has some professor type people throwing down on what they think is the best novel by Charles Dickens. this made me feel soooo litararily ignorant.

Reading Bleak House just got scribbled into my day […] Susan Fisher at 4:13 pm on August 10, 2012 Whichever one I’m reading at the time! My introduction to him was my mother reading A Christmas Carol to me–I have lines by heart from that one. But I think my favorite is Pickwick Papers. I adore Sam Weller. Veronica Zucchi at 10:21 am on August 28, 2012 Though unfinished (but very intriguing), I really loved The Mistery of Edwin Drood….and the variety of endings written by so many authors. A sign of Dickens’s genius and literary generosity, allowing writers to take advantage of such a valuable first half of the novel. Charles Dickens: 5 Great Works | Endpaper: The Paperblanks Blog at 3:43 pm on January 7, 2013 […] as a criticism of the government of the period. As to its significance in the Dickens’ canon?

According to Deb Gettelman, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross, Little Dorrit is the best novel to read to […] Tim McKinney at 10:00 am on April 21, 2013 The Mystery of Edwin Drood would top everyone’s list if the secret were widely known that Dickens was embedding a ‘shadow story’ (telling a second strata of story concerning druidism and nature-righting) in the words of the apparent story of Edwin and Rosa’s engagement. 2. Bleak House 3. Great Expectations 4. David Copperfield 5. Little Dorrit 6. Our Mutual Friend JGK at 3:04 pm on July 3, 2013 “Our Mutual Friend was my Dickens gateway drug. The opening sequence plays like a Scorsese tracking shot on steroids.” Anyone looking for a reason to devalue the way the liberal arts are taught in this country need only brood over this ridiculous statement. Yocheved at 1:22 pm on July 10, 2013 Nope, they’re all wrong.

Dickens’s best book was “The Magic Fishbone.” christopher lord at 5:27 pm on July 11, 2013 The “Best Dickens Novel” is a difficult topic. The commenter whose list excludes “Our Mutual Friend” should read it immediately and then start over, because, if not the greatest expression of his art (I would nominate “Great Expectations” for that), it is his greatest novel. “Bleak House,” “Little Dorrit,” and “David Copperfield” are also up there. I have read, taught, and been inspired by every Dickens novel at multiple times in my life (including basing a mystery series on them), and each time I read them I gain new meaning and depth. Right now I’m basking in the glory of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” a book I didn’t read until I was in my thirties, and now it’s among my favorites. But read any of his books and your life will be enriched; you might save such challenges as “Barnaby Rudge” and “The Old Curiosity Shop” until later, but even they have rewards for the patient reader.

at 11:42 pm on August 10, 2013 i think it depends upon readers taste but i would rank BLEAK HOUSE…………. Debby at 9:13 am on March 26, 2014 I haven’t read Dicken’s works but I am interested to observe his works for my minithesis. So, can you tell me what novels are have the sameness whether the themes or characters or anything. I really thank you if you can help me. Barry Dalton at 10:51 pm on April 10, 2014 As an introduction to Dickens, I have just completed Bleak House. What a wonderful book! A Novel Apart: Embarking on The Pickwick Papers | Ninteenth Centuryist at 4:43 pm on September 5, 2014 […] two adaptations ofÂ Great ExpectationsÂ that appeared within six months of each other in 2012.

Even ‘the experts’Â don’t vote for PickwickÂ as Dickens’s best novel anymore.Â Trying to understand why […] Alicia Lozano at 8:37 pm on November 11, 2014 Even I’m not an expert, for me it’s Bleak House, it let me wanting more, I couldn’t put it down. I’m still looking for a book who can take its place but I found none. I live in Mexico and it’s complicated to find something from Dickens beside Oliver Twist, Great Expectations or Tale of two cities, so when I went to USA and found this I bought it immediately. It didn’t disappoint me, it’s really wonderful, it’s characters and plots make it so easy to read , it amaze me. Rob at 2:30 pm on September 11, 2015 Dickens is probably my favorite author and picking out the best is hard to do. The Pickwick Papers is very funny and has so many characters differing in age and station, that it boggles the mind to think it was written by an author in his early 20’s.

Great Expectations is probably my favorite, and the surprise twist of Pip’s benefactor ( who will remain nameless here ) was what novels are all about. I never saw that surprise coming, but when it came, it didn’t come out of nowhere, and it all made perfect sense. The Mystery of Edwin Drood might have been my favorite if Dickens had lived to complete. I read it in denial, knowing it was going to end only half finished, and yet hoping against all hope to see the mystery revealed. Dickens greatly admired Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, and here he was about to outdo Collins, no mean achievement considering The Woman in White is one of the greatest mysteries every written. I at 5:17 pm on October 14, 2015 To me,David Copperfield is Dickens’ best & most ‘dickensian’ novel.

I have read most of his novels but I first came to love Dickens while reading this veiled autobiography.If someone read Dickens with not a critical eye but a affectionate and understanding mind,David Copperfield will certainly be the best.The book certainly has flaws but it’s impossible not to love David,Agnes,Betsey Trotwood or Traddles(or,hate Murdstone siblings or Heep). The book is very long & has many subplots but is far more griping than many other lengthy novels.It is not much sentimental like earlier novels like Oliver Twist,Nicholas Nickleby or The Old Curiosity Shop.On the other hand, it is mostly free from later novels’ bitter sarcasm & melancholic tone. Certainly, David Copperfield has most perfect ‘Dickensian’ characteristics.The reader just needs to feel the pulses of the writer while reading. Bonnie Sharp at 5:38 pm on October 25, 2015 Great Expectations, but I’m working my way through all his work, so that may change. I have to have Dickins on my bedside table at all times.

Melinda Fulwood at 8:37 pm on December 9, 2015 Bleak House is so wonderful to read and what full bodied characters Mr. Dickens presents in this story. Esther Summerson gives us a higher standard of what can be done with meager beginnings especially in present day society where no standard has become the status quo. Shake me up Judy! Pete Short at 12:14 pm on January 31, 2016 After deciding to concentrate my reading on ‘Dickens Only’ for a couple of years, I read most of the novels (Martin Chuzzlewit, Edwin Drood, Our Mutual Friend, Barnaby Rudge still to go). I can’t name the best, only which I loved most. I found Hard Times and Bleak House the most difficult to love, but David Copperfield and Dombey and Son still fight it out in my mind for ‘most loved’. I do think ‘Dombey and Son is a very underrated book. (Such sneaking regard for the sheer joy of The Pickwick Papers)!

Ken Presland at 6:17 pm on February 29, 2016 Bleak House seems the most highly rated novel here, and I wouldn’t disagree: I think it has its faults – I’ve never found Lady Dedlock a particularly believable character – but it has moments of undeniable power and an overall feeling that this is Dickens at the very top of his game. I would like to put in a claim, though, for the somewhat overlooked early novels, if only for their sheer energy, exuberance and sense of fun. There are not many Victorian writers who have the power still to make us laugh and it’s an amazing achievement that Dickens’s humour seems as fresh today as it must have been to his first readers. Nickleby and Chuzzlewit are both highly entertaining books, once they get past their opening chapters, and I would also give mention to Barnaby Rudge. No-one seems to like it much but it’s a particular favourite of mine and contains, in John Willet the inn keeper, what is surely one of Dickens’s finest and truest characters.

David Weir at 3:51 pm on March 2, 2016 ‘Great Expectations’ is a highly original study of human nature in a way that the rest aren’t. It’s chilling in that pretty well everything Pip wants at his retributive worst seems somehow to come about. That’s serious stuff with worrying implications for us. At the other extreme I agree with Ken above about the sheer energy of the earlier novels. And ‘Pickwick Papers’ is a delight – Dickens at his most Fieldingesque. What a pity, though, that he never read Jane Austen. Book Review: Bleak House by Charles Dickens – Rejected Letters to the Editor at 1:10 am on March 8, 2016 […] HOUSE is said by some critics to be Dickensâ best novel, the one with the most stuck-to theme, the one with the least ox-bows, side-shows and dead-ends.

[…] Bleak House by Charles Dickens – Rejected Letters to the Editor at 9:08 am on March 9, 2016 […] HOUSE is said by some critics to be Dickensâ best novel, the one with the most stuck-to theme, the one with the least ox-bows, side-shows and dead-ends. […] TS at 4:43 am on August 5, 2016 Bleak House, absolutely #1. I also have a personal affection for Pickwick Papers because I had the most fun reading it. Rikhard at 11:55 am on September 20, 2016 I’ve only read A Tale of Two Cities, and it made me weep like a baby. MarkW at 12:26 am on October 1, 2016 I have not read them all, but clearly Bleak House is a great great novel and if the majority here think it the best, who am I to disagree? I am puzzled by the dismissal of Tale of Two Cities which, of all the ones I’ve read, seems to be the most concise and tightly put together.

And I admit to have read it eight times since High School and never tire of it. Keith Lofthouse at 9:13 pm on October 27, 2016 No question; Dombey and Son is the most underrated, and I’ve read them all. My copy was picked up at a jumble sale. It’s a 1927 edition in poor condition that I had restored and rebound at great expense. You do these things, for things that are precious. Billy at 3:30 pm on October 30, 2016 I have read all Dicken’s novels . Funniest , The Pickwick Papers . The most complex and inteÄºlectually rewarding , Bleak House . The best written , life affirming and my personal favourite , Great Expectations . Post a Response Liverpool and Charles Dickens - Beatles Liverpool and More Contact Us Liverpool and Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was born on the 7th February 1812, to celebrate his 200th anniversary we have decided to do a short biography of his connections and visits to Liverpool.

1838 His first novel Pickwick Papers was serialised between 1836 - 1837, it was shortly after this that he made his first visit to Liverpool, it was in November 1838. During a trip to North Wales, with Hablot K. Browne who had planned to visit his son Edgar Browne who lived in Rodney Street, Liverpool, Dickens wrote a letter dated 3rd November 1838 to his college and friend John Forster, he wrote: " I wrote you last night but by mistake the letter has gone to heavens knows where in my portmanteau. I have only time to say go straight to Liverpool by the first Birmingham train on Monday morning, and at the Adelphi Hotel in that town you will find me" Dickens was aged 26 and this was his first known visit to Liverpool.

Water colour of The Adelphi Hotel 1912 Watercolour of Rodney Street circa 1900 1842 Charles Dickens next visit to Liverpool came in January 1842, it was during a planned visit to Boston, America, on the Cunard steamer "The Britannia" when he arrived in Liverpool the day before the sailing, he stayed once again in the Adelphi Hotel. On the eve of their 18 day voyage he wrote to his friend Thomas Mitton, letter dated 3rd January 1842. "My Dear Mitton, This is a short note, but I will fulfill the adage and make it a merry one. We came down in great comfort. Our luggage is now aboard. Anything so utterly and monstrously absurd as the size of our cabin, "no gentleman of England who lives at ease" can for a moment imagine. neither of the portmanteaus would go into it, there." Charles Dickens returned home via Liverpool, 6 months later in June 1842.

1844 His next visit to Liverpool came as an invitation to take the chair of the Mechanics Institute (later re-named the Liverpool Institute on Mount Street the former school of Paul McCartney and George Harrison). The date was 26th February 1844, at that time Charles was an established author and speaker, and a portrait of the young Dickens was commissioned to remember the occasion. Charles Dickens aged 32 - Portrait commissioned for the Mechanics Institute Charles was to receive a payment of £20.00 for his expenses to attend the Soiree, but he returned it to the secretary after he took advice from his friend Forster.

The admission fee for the evening was 3s.6d, and The Liverpool Mercury reported the event as follows: "Upwards of 1200 gay, happy and intelligent beings thronged to listen to the voice of one of whose writings, by their truthfulness in the delineation of character in the lights and shadows of life, had before touched their feelings, warmed their hearts, and gladdened their sympathies" Artist impression of the Soiree - 26th February 1844 Photo of the venue circa 1900 1847 His next visit came as a performer at the Theatre Royal, Williamson Square, the date was 28th July 1847, and Charles was to appear in 'Every Man In His Humour' an amateur performance which also included John Forster in the cast. Liverpool during that time was going through a major transformation and Charles was noticing the changes, work had started in 1842 on St George's Hall, on Lime Street, and Charles being a regular visitor to the city could witness the changes during his trips.

Right - Play Bill 'Every Man In His Humour' - 28th July 1847 i Below is a series of panoramic water colours of Liverpool that was painted by the artist Ackerman in 1847, during his balloon flights across the city: Looking towards Crown Street St Nicholas Church & Custom House George's Dock - Public Baths Bath Street and New Quay St George's Hall and Lime Street Below is a collection of Water colours around Liverpool Streets at the time of Dickens: St George's Hall/St John's Church Lime Street Station - 1838 The Mechanics Institute, Mount Street -1841 1848 The following years Dickens was a regular visitor to Liverpool, on the 5th June 1848 his company performed, 'The Merry Wives Of Windsor' and a farce titled, 'Love, Law and Physic.' 1852 He appeared at the Philharmonic Hall, the dates were the 13th and 14th February and performed, 'Not So Bad As We Seem' by Bulwer Lytton and his own 'Mr Nightingale's Diary' which he wrote in 1851 with Mark Lemon.

This was a very successful trip for Dickens, he wrote to Bulwer Lytton the following day. "I left Liverpool at 4 o'clock in the morning, and I am so blinded by excitement, gas and waving hats and hankerchiefs, that I can hardly see to write, but I cannot tell you what a triumph we had." Dickens returned to the Philharmonic Hall later that year on September 3rd, performing. 'Used Up', 'Charles XII' and 'Mr Nightingale's Diary' to an audience of 1,668. 1858 Dickens returned to the Philharmonic Hall to give the first of his readings, each of the readings would last two hours, and he appeared over four days on the 18th, 19th 20th and 21st of August, on his first night the Phil was a sell out and Dickens performed to 2,300 people, during his lectures he read, 'Dombey and Son', 'Boots At Holly Tree Inn', 'Mrs Gamp' and the last lecture was, 'A Christmas Carol'.

Dickens also took the opportunity to sell his books at the lectures and soon sold out, in a letter to Forster he wrote, "They turned away hundreds, sold all the books, rolled on the ground of my room knee-deep in cheques and made a perfect pantomime of the whole thing." Dickens returned to the Philharmonic Hall on the 15th October and gave another two readings. The Philharmonic Hall visitors book, 1858 signed by Charles Dickens 1860 Dickens again found himself in Liverpool this time as a researcher on the book, 'The Uncommercial Traveller' which he started in 1859, during this visit Dickens joined the Liverpool Police Force, as a special constable where he would roam the area of the docks he, used this experience in Chapter V, 'Poor Mercantile Jack' for the character 'Mercantile Jack'. Dickens tells us of his own experience as a Special Constable: "I had entered the Liverpool Police Force, that I might have a look at various unlawful traps which are every night set for Jack.

As my term of service in that distinguished corps was short, and my personal bias in the capacity of one of its members has ceased, no suspicion will attach to my evidence that it is an admirable force. Besides that, it is composed, without favour, of the best men that can be picked, it is directed by an unusual intelligence. It organisation against fires, I take to be much better than the metropolitan system." In Chapter VIII, 'The Great Tasmania's Cargo' Dickens goe's on to tell of his visit to the Liverpool Workhouse, to see the plight of solidiers returning from India. "I entered the workhouse of Liverpool. For, the cultivation of laurels in a sandy soil, had brought the soldiers in question to that abode of Glory. Before going into their wards to visit them, I inquired how they had made their triumphant entry there? They had been brought through the rain in carts it seemed, from the landing-place to the gate, and had then been carried up-stairs on the backs of paupers. My hand and my heart fail me, in writing my record of this journey.

The spectacle of the soldiers in the hospital-beds of that Liverpool workhouse (a very good workhouse, indeed, be it understood), was so shocking and so shameful, that as an Englishman I blush to remember it. It would have been simply unbearable at the time, but for the consideration and pity with which they were soothed in their sufferings." Another Liverpool character to have an effect on Dickens was the plight of Sarah Biffin born in 1784, with no arms, and stumps for legs, in her adult life Sarah learned to read and write, and was an accomplished artist, painting holding the paint brush with her mouth, despite of her handicap, she was well known for her paintings of miniatures, Sarah's later years where spent in Liverpool, living at No8 Duke Street, she died aged 66 in 1850, and was buried in St James Cemetery, Dickens went on to mention Sarah in his novels, 'Little Dorrit', 'Martin Chuzzelwit' and 'Nicholas Nickleby'.

Dickens Uncommercial Traveller Sarah Biffin 1861 Dickens again visited Liverpool for a series of readings, the date set was to be 15th December, when Dickens arrived news had broke on the death of the Prince Concort who had died the day before, and Dickens was advised by The Liverpool Lord Mayor and Town Clerk to postpone the readings as a mark of respect for the Queen. Dickens who was staying at the Adelphi Hotel and wrote to the Assistant Editor of, 'All Year Round' W.H. Wills with reference to this request. "I have been very doubtful what to do here, we have a great let for tomorrow night. The Mayor recommends closing tomorrow, and giving the Readings on Tuesday and Wednesday, so doe's the Town Clerk, so do other agents. But I have a misgiving that they hardly understand what the general sympathy of the public with the Queen will be. Further, I feel personally that the Queen has always been very considerate and gracious to me, and I would on no account do anything that might seem unfeeling or disrespectful. I shall attach great weight, in this state of indecision, to your telegram." The Readings were cancelled and he arranged to visit in January.

1862 Dickens returned to Liverpool in January to honour his Readings, the venue was the Small Concert Room in St George's Hall, which Dickens thought was ideal for his Readings, he gave three Readings, 'Bob Sawyer', 'David Copperfield' and 'Nicholas Nickleby' he was due to give another three Readings the following day, but feeling unwell he travelled over to Birkenhead to clear his head. he described this in a letter to Miss Hogarth. "My Dearest Georgy, The Beautiful room was crammed to excess last night, and numbers were turned away. Its beauty and completeness when it is lighted up are most brilliant to behold, and for a reading it is simply perfect. You remember that a Liverpool audience is usually dull, but they put me on my mettle last night, for I never saw an audience, no not even Edinburgh. I slept horribly last night, and have been over to Birkenhead for a little change of air today. My head is dazed and worn by gas and heat, and I fear that "Copperfield" and "Bob" together tonight won't mend it.

I am going to buy two boys some Everton Toffee." From the context of that letter you can feel that the constant touring and Reaings where taking a toll on Dickens now aged 50. It was a gap of four years before Dickens would return to Liverpool. St George's Hall - 1860 Queen Victoria and Albert Prince Consort Everton Toffee Shop 1866 In April Dickens returned to St George's Hall to give a lecture of five readings such was his popularity in Liverpool that on the first night an estimated 3,000 people had to be turned away. 1867 Dickens returned again to St George's Hall which was now his favorite venue, giving a series of reading in January and February, in a letter to Miss Hogarth he writes, "The day has been very fine, and I have turned it to the wholesome account by walking on the sands at New Brighton all the morning. It is 'Copperfield' tonight, and Liverpool is the 'Copperfield' stronghold." In November of 1867 Dickens travelled through Liverpool on his way to Boston, America, Dickens was touring America for a number of months returning in May 1868.

1868 In late 1868 Dickens was back in Liverpool appearing at St George's Hall on the 12th, 13th and 14th October and the 26th, 27th, and 28th, where he Read, 'David Copperfield' and 'Mr Chops, the Dwarf" to packed houses. Dickens health was suffering and in late 1868 Dickens agent announced a series of farewell tours for Dickens. 1869 Dickens returned to Liverpool for the last time on his farewell tour on the 5th-9th of April, he had planned to book his favourite venue St George's Hall, but the demand for tickets was so great that the venue was change to The Theatre Royal in Williamson Square one of the Reading chose was 'Oliver Twist' and this made his Liverpool Tour a brilliant success. The 9th April was to be his last performance in Liverpool. The following day 10th April 1869 Dickens was entertained at the banquet held in St George's Hall held in his honour which was attained by the Lord Mayor and the great and the good of Liverpool.

During the banquet a toast was made to Charles Dickens in which he replied, "That Liverpool had never failed him when he had asked the help of her citizens in the cause of literature and benevolence, and that her response had been spontaneous, open handed and munificent." In a letter Dickens wrote during his farewell tour in Liverpool he says, "One of the pleasantest things I have experienced here this time is the way in which I am stopped in the streets by working men who want to shake hands with me, and tell me they know my books." Programme for the Banquet held in honour of Charles Dickens on 10th April 1869 at St George's Hall with thanks to Liverpool Record Office - Watercolour Collection

Question: What's the Charles Dickens novel in which you would find the character 'Smike'?
Answer: Nicholas Nickleby